碧海青天夜夜心

Title: The Tarnished Angels

Year: 1957

Country: USA

Language: English

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama

Director: Douglas Sirk

Screenwriter: George Zuckerman

based on the novel “Pylon” by William Faulkner

Music: Frank Skinner

Cinematography: Irving Glassberg

Editing: Russell F. Schoengarth

Cast:

Rock Hudson

Dorothy Malone

Robert Stack

Jack Carson

Robert Middleton

Christopher Olsen

Troy Donahue

Alan Reed

William Schallert

Rating: 6.8/10

THE TARNISHED ANGELS, Douglas Sirk’s cinematic adaptation of Faulkner’s Depression-era novel PYLON, repeats the winning formula of WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956), with Hudson. Malone and Stack, all returning to the fold. Yet, for those who are ensorcelled by Sirk’s variegated palette, the big comedown is that it is a black-and-white fare.

Hudson plays Burke Devlin, a journeyman-cum-lush, gets interested in the barnstorming airshow, and meets Roger Shumann (Stack), a daredevil WWI ace and his wife LaVerne (Malone), a parachute stuntwoman, and their 9-year-old son Jack (Olsen), plus Jiggs (Carson), the grease monkey. Will he get a substantial story out of his involvement? The denouement is more than what he bargains for.

LaVerne is the neglected wife, sadly even her marriage is the outcome of a dice game, yet, between the good ol’ Jiggs and a stony-faced Roger, a woman is destined to pick the high-flying, handsome hero who is ill-equipped for love and family. Burke’s advent gives her an opportunity to make a clean breast of it, he is a charming, tender receptacle of her pent-up discontent, they might have a passionate affair, but that doesn’t change the status quo. Burke is far too righteous a man to interfere a holy union, and LaVerne can never get over her stolid Prince Charming, is indiscriminately at his beck and call, even for an immoral proposition, she will hardly demur. That is the draw of a man like Roger, his hard-nosed, hellbent masculine toxin that gins up eligible girls’ romanticized fancy of “a man worth marrying”, LaVerne would be far more happier with Jiggs, but both in Faulkner’s head space and in Hollywood’s propaganda mill, a soft touch like him has no chance of winning the girl, even second-handedly.

The love triangle is namby-pamby, Roger’s promised fresh start is tinged with a blasé fatality that even a toddler can outguess what is in the horizon, the emotional tangle in THE TARNISHED ANGELS is a few notches below the torrid quotient in Sirk’s other films, notably the three also starring Hudson. Even so, a Sirk’s picture is never unprepossessing, the striking chiaroscuro overshadows the dark corners of one’s unsaid vice, and the aerobatics are brilliantly maneuvered (LaVerne’s base jump is deceptively astounding) save for the final crash, obviously there is a shallow, artificial pond right in front of our eyes, how can they not find the body?

Acting wise, Stack is too self-serious and uptight to hint Roger’s inability of adjusting a fly boy’s life in peace time; Carson is a remarkable sidekick as Jiggs, who unfairly takes the short end of the stick when all is said and done (why no one wants to recruit such a proficient mechanic?), you feels sorry for him, but in the same breath thinks he deserves the misery because of his weakness; Malone asserts herself glamorously under the monochromatic allure, she could be a tamed man-eater, or a saintly mother, but never asks for our compassion; finally, Hudson appears as a solid lead, and delivers perchance his most eloquent monologue in the aftermath of the tragedy, a conventional Hollywood leading man in a full-bore mold, all square and virtuous, not unlike its soft-pedaled ending, extricating a woman from her seedy acquiescence and humorously setting up a future reunion, oh, what a dreamboat!

referential entries: Sirk’s LURED (1947, 6.5/10); WRITTEN ON THE WIND (1956, 8.0/10).

第14届#法罗岛电影节#无人知晓单元第6个放映日为大家带来《碧海青天夜夜心》，下面为大家带来前线彷徨众人们自我麻痹的评价了！

节南山：

文艺青年的忧伤爱情故事，但总显得略有些刻意。

我们敏熙：

又见错位爱情，在大部分时候洛克·哈德森的角色都处于旁观的状态，直到最后角色情绪才喷涌而出。影片情感的纵深度令人咋舌。

Msanctuary：

摄影技术飞行画面极佳，空中的表演很大胆。影片最后确实有点乱，情感的动摇，人物的对话，每个人的标签都带着些许的黑暗：绝望，孤独或是愤怒。

拉拉那个啦啦：

是纠葛的感情困扰彼此的一生，还是因为一生都在寻找这样的真实与复杂性所以变得曲折不堪？黑白片的魅力之一，是它的时代久远性，这会让人更理解人物内心。角色人物塑造得还是挺好的，有被打动。

非无想非有想：

没看懂，纠缠于两个男人间的女人，苦苦追寻飞行员老公的爱，最后终于确定了爱着彼此，老公却死了。又出来第三个男人——记者最后鼓励了她。第二个男人也就半路失踪了。我真的不知道想表达啥，云里雾里。

布谷卟咕：

故事发生在一个寻求刺激娱乐的沙滩周围，主线在我看来讲述了一个表演性飞行员被对天空的渴望不断吞噬，麻木他对生活不可控的恐惧感。克制的情感，强横的人物形象，对社会现象深入的刻画，都让这个故事显得辛辣有观点。

Pincent：

飞行比赛与空中杂技表演本身就有种自毁的气质，飞行是终极的逃离与自由，同时人又可能被其吞噬。视觉相对出彩，黑白对比强烈。当飞机划过天空，福克纳充满酒精与嘉年华的故事开始了，各有其过往的角色们在此微妙地相交，在残酷的生活之下，人物没有正邪没有好坏，只有理解与误解、问题与挣扎，不忽略三人中任何一人的视角，也不会落入俗套，最后他们仿佛都只能躺下来，将自己埋葬。

子夜无人：

来不及写完他的故事，先一步爱上他的妻子；蓝天白云的梦想只剩自我麻痹的酒精，唯有机毁人亡才是成全了你也圆满了我自己。多罗茜·马龙光芒四射，哪怕在一部双男主戏里、同时面对积忧成疾的罗伯特·斯塔克和深情款款的洛克·哈德森也傲人镇场。就如同这场情感的困局，只有她真正清醒，她留守的是一个男人的过去，而另一个男人爱上的只是她的幻影。爱情最多的时间就是被过去和幻影占据，因为现实是不敢触碰的真实，本体是一碰就碎的假体。

#FIFF14#DAY6的无人知晓场刊评分将在稍后为大家释出，请大家拭目以待了。

what a jerk abusing his admirers and prioritizing his own ego over his responsibility as a father and a husband. also cast a big sarcasm on the heartless and blind mass; a bunch of hypocrites taking the fools and the poor's advantages when they can. gross. this is a very difficult film to watch, to say the least. an impressive line from the reporter: "I've got the story in my aching heart. I got it by crawling through dirt and filth and muck and smut! By finding truth and beauty where you'd never expect to find it."

As an audience, I'm really tired of hearing Mr. Shuman's big dream and can't come near to appreciate his passion and his willingness to accept death as his fate. Maybe that says something about 21st century. My education in behavior/ brain science won't let me believe in 'the calling'. He chooses to be an unearthly man and it's not a decision easily understood by others. a dangerous threat to daily routines and social norms.

The hook really lies in the roughness and imperfection in every character, the kind of subtlety rarely seen in Hollywood. however, the ending is narcissistic. sick of listing to pedantic talk on 'follow your dreams.' what a waste of time. feel sad for Jiggs and the boss.